Well, first off, First & Hope I’m afraid Soyer au Champagne did not, first appear, “in the 1949 Esquire’s Handbook for Hosts.” At the very least, both Harry McElhone’s “Harry’s ABCs” and “Barflies and Cocktails” contained it prior to the Savoy Cocktail Book.

In fact Ted Haigh in, “Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails,” the Soyer au Champagne, sez the drink is, “circa 1888,” well before any of the books above were published. It certainly is similar to a lot of drinks put forward by the esteemed William “The Only” Schmidt in his awesome book, “The Flowing Bowl”.

Ted, though puts forth the idea of serving this in a coupe, instead of a chimney as I did, with a lot less ice cream.

Let’s examine Harry McElhone’s recipe, as I feel certain that is where Harry Craddock found this monstrosity.

Fill balance with Champagne, stir well. and add a slice of Pineapple, a slice Orange, and a slice of Lemon. 2 Cherries. 2 Strawberries.
(A very popular beverage on the Continent.)

Hm, wow, Harry proscribes an f-ing baroque nightmare garnish scenario for this puppy! Geez, pineapple, orange, lemon, 2 cherries, and two strawberries!? Is he joking? In addition he sez, “large tumbler,” which I guess is more akin to a modern water glass?

Anyway, the other month at someone at Alembic ordered this. We hadn’t invested in Vanilla Ice Cream, so we made do with simple and cream. I didn’t think it was exactly awful, but Danny thought it was possibly the worst thing he had ever put in his mouth.

Making this again, I found it odd. When I first made it, I thought it was kind of tasty, but maybe too concentrated, so added more sparkling wine. Ooof, as I dried it out a bit more with the sparkling wine, it just got worse. There’s a balance here, surprisingly, and too much champagne really ruins the cocktail.

Maybe Ted is right, in picking the coupe. At least that way you can’t over pour the champagne.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

There are all sorts of different ways to look at this cocktail, none of them particularly interesting. What is true, is that the Silver Cocktail is delicious. As always, I like to use a decently strong and strongly flavored gin when making Fifty-Fifty type cocktails. If you don’t have Junipero, Tanqueray would be another good choice.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

The Seventh Heaven (No. 2) is quite similar to the Colonial Cocktail, with the Grapefruit and Maraschino ratio inverted. And, as such, boy is it pretty awful. I had hope there would be some magic between the bitterness of the grapefruit and the funk of the Maraschino. The Colonial is, after all, a pretty tasty cocktail. But, unless you really like a Maraschino funky, sweet, bitter grapefruit, after dinner cocktail, I’d say avoid the Seventh Heaven (No. 2).

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

I still have no real information about what Caperitif might have been. As far as I know, it was thought to be a deep golden Quinquina made in South Africa (thus CAPE, as in Cape Town, peritif.) Lately I have been sticking to the Dolin Blanc mostly because, well, I like Dolin Blanc, and the cocktails which call for Caperitif are tasty when made with it.

This is no exception. In fact, if a Manhattan made with White Whiskey and Dolin Blanc is a “White Manhattan”, this is pretty darn close to a “White Martinez”, no? Actually, it IS nearly identical to one of my favorite Martini variations, The Imperial Cocktail, and I prefer the amarena cherry as a garnish to the olive.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. (Garnish with spanked mint tip.)

EDIT. Note the amounts for the ingredients in this drink should have been 7.5ml Maraschino, 3 Sprigs Mint, 1/2 oz Lemon Juice, 1 1/2 oz Gin.

Robert Vermeire notes, in his book “Cocktails: How to mix them”, that this is a “Recipe by James Berkelmans, Paris.”

I’ve actually always been fond of the “Sensation Cocktail”. Short, sharp, and tart, it also has a pretty hilarious name, sounding like it relates to some sexual accessory. The “Sensation” is really Aviation Cocktail, with mint in place of Creme de Violette. For whatever reason, it just doesn’t quite have the “magic” of an Aviation. Making it for modern drinkers, I usually throw a quarter to a half an ounce of simple in there just to take a bit more of the edge off the tartness of the lemon, but even so, I find few people who really appreciate it. An example of a good, but slightly pedestrian cocktail. Not as tasty as many of its close relatives. Heck, Jeffrey Morganthaler has practically made a career out of a version of this drink made with simple syrup instead of Maraschino. Well, that, his scintillating wit, boyish good looks, and, most importantly, stylish neck wear.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

For those of you keeping track, the ingredients arranged themselves in the following order, bottom to top: Mozart Black, Luxardo Maraschino, Benedictine/YellowChartreuse, R&W Violette, Green Chartreuse, Brandy.

Every once in a while someone orders this during Savoy Cocktail Nights at Alembic Bar and we all groan. Why, oh why?

It’s true these are all perfectly palatable liqueurs, but this is just such a pain in the ass to concoct. And the whole thing together, while not entirely unpleasant, is a bit of a shock to the system, if you are sensitive to sugar.

I finished it, it is true, more out of curiosity than anything else.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

A lot like the Chrysanthemum cocktail, this is a relatively pleasing light aperitif beverage. Or if you’re off kilter and need something in a drinking session relatively low alcohol to get you back on the path towards pleasant drunken-ness.

Again, sticking with plain old Absinthe for the “Absinthe Bitters” in this cocktail. I don’t know that breaking out the Gin and Wormwood makes much sense here.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Odd quest for Sherry this time around. I’d lately been enjoying a Lustau Dry Oloroso where sherry was called for, but that bottle was getting a bit tired, so I forced myself to finish it off.

Figured it would be a piece of cake to find a decent Amontillado or similar. Heck, I’ve been buying the Lustau Amontillado since I was in college, how hard should that be to find?

Kind of hard, it turns out. Why on earth is it most upscale grocery stores have a better sherry selection than most liquor stores? Heck, I even visited the esteemed John Walker and Co downtown and they didn’t have a single bottle of Sherry. What is up with that? Has Dominic Venegas stolen it all for Gitane?

Back to the cocktail, obviously, this isn’t going to make a non-sherry drinker turn their head, but for the rest of us, here’s another nice, light aperitif cocktail for those times when the booze just seems a bit much.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.